Menelaou and Dana to meet ahead of Christodoulides-Erhurman talks

Nicosia, Cyprus. Greek Cypriot chief negotiator Menelaos Menelaou and Mehmet Dana, undersecretary to Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhurman, are due to meet on Thursday.

The meeting, scheduled for 11am, is intended to prepare for next week’s meeting between President Nikos Christodoulides and Erhurman, the Cyprus News Agency reported.

Enlarged meeting prospects

Government spokesman Konstantinos Letymbiotis said Christodoulides will approach next week’s meeting with a “constructive attitude”, amid hopes it could lead to an enlarged meeting on the Cyprus problem.

Such a meeting would involve the island’s two sides, the three guarantor powers Greece, Turkey and the United Kingdom, and the United Nations.

During a visit to Cyprus last month, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said an enlarged meeting would be convened “after adequate progress” on confidence-building measures, the meeting’s methodology and the substance of the talks.

Confidence-building measures

Presidential press office director Victor Papadopoulos had said confidence-building measures “naturally help create a climate” but were “not a prerequisite” for an enlarged meeting.

UN Cyprus problem envoy Maria Angela Holguin said, however, that implementing such measures is an “indispensable condition” before an enlarged meeting.

“Confidence-building measures should not be seen merely as symbolic steps which improve the atmosphere between the two communities, but rather as practical tools which test the viability of a future political order,” Holguin told Turkey’s Anka news agency.

She said the measures could demonstrate whether cooperation works in practice and help create the collaborative habits required for a future solution.

Crossing points

Possible confidence-building measures include opening crossing points between the island’s two sides.

Talks on the issue have remained deadlocked over whether to separate a package of four locations agreed by the sides last year.